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Mormon Stories Podcast

632: Tyler Glenn Pt. 2 - Struggling with Fame and Authenticity

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.55.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2016

⏱️ 116 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tyler Glenn is best known as the lead singer of the multi-platinum alternative pop band Neon Trees.  

Tyler was raised LDS/Mormon in Temecula, California.  After discovering a love for music in high school and serving an LDS mission, Tyler moved to Provo, UT with his buddy Chris to form Neon Trees (named after the trees on the In and Out signs).  Neon Trees signed with Mercury Records in 2009 and went on to release three successful alternative pop albums: Habits (2010), Picture Show (2012), and Pop Psychology (2014).

Tyler knew he was gay as a child, but struggled as a teen and adult to reconcile his sexuality with his LDS faith.  These struggles took Tyler to some sad/dark places, which were only exacerbated by his fame as a pop star.  At age 27 (around the release of Picture Show), Tyler seriously contemplated ending his life.

In spite of these struggles, Tyler remained a full and literal believer in the LDS Church.  In 2014 Tyler decided that being a closeted gay man was contributing to his suicidality.  Consequently he came out as gay to his family, band, friends -- and to the world in Rolling Stone magazine -- prior to the release of Pop Psychology.  From this point forward it was Tyler's full intent to find and marry a gay man, and to raise children in the LDS church as a gay married Mormon.  

Then, in November of 2015, the LDS church released its new policy branding same-sex married Mormons as immediate apostates, and prohibiting children of same-sex married couples from being baptized.  This policy change sent Tyler into a tailspin, ultimately shattering his plans as a believing, gay Mormon. 

In this three part interview, we explore:

  • Part 1: Tyler's early years as a young Mormon struggling with his sexuality.
  • Part 2: Tyler's ascent (along with Neon Trees) into stardom...and the sadness/despair that followed.
  • Part 3: Tyler's faith crisis instigated by the LDS policy change, along with his current beliefs/views regarding the LDS Church.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Music

0:06.0

Warmest Stories podcast is a production of the Open Stories Foundation.

0:10.0

All donations to Warmest Stories are fully tax deductible

0:13.0

and go directly towards keeping the podcast alive and towards building a community of support for Mormons like you.

0:19.0

Come, come, you say, no toil nor labor fear, but with joy when you're way.

0:33.0

So I read like one of the articles I read it's like they've got the reputation of not drinking or smoking or doing drugs and being devout more Mormons.

0:44.0

True.

0:47.0

So what do you mean?

0:49.0

So I mean, you were aware that that was what people were saying, right?

0:52.0

Oh yeah, it came up a lot.

0:54.0

And I think I kind of, I think Brandon and I both started not to shy away.

0:59.0

We were proud that we were Mormon.

1:02.0

But we were tired of it coming up on interviews.

1:05.0

So we were to use like, I think I even mentioned this before, but I would say like, you know, you choose Catholic.

1:13.0

But that doesn't make them a Catholic band or, you know, any sort of band that has a religion that they do in their in their spare time or in that forms their life for their worldview, but it doesn't affect their music.

1:25.0

So we would use that in interviews a lot.

1:29.0

Because that was the thing I didn't want to be labeled as the Mormon band.

1:32.0

It was like, we were labeled as the Mormon band, but we were also labeled as like the killer's friends at the beginning.

1:39.0

And those were like at the initial thing, those were the two things that we wanted to break, like those stereotypes.

1:46.0

So why not the killer's friends? Why isn't that great?

1:50.0

I think because when any band or artist that comes out, they're always going to be labeled as somebody else.

1:58.0

Like, oh, they sound like that.

...

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